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North Korea celebrates Kim Jong-il's 66th birthday

Synchronized swimmers and singing soldiers marked the birthday yesterday of the man dubbed North Korea's "outstanding thinker" by state media, but mystery still surrounded who the leader may choose as a successor.

The communist world's first dynastic leader, Kim Jong-il, turned 66 as the head of state in a land that treats him like a deity, although his destitute country has fallen more deeply into poverty in his years in power.

"Only victory and glory are in store for the army and people of the DPRK [North Korea] as long as they have Kim Jong-il," the North's official KCNA news agency said in one of several commentaries lauding Kim.

Kim is usually conspicuously absent from the celebrations the North's propaganda machine calls "the most auspicious day of the nation."

But that did not stop thousands from dancing in the streets of Pyongyang, acrobats from tumbling in his honor or synchronized swimmers performing a choreographed routine to the tune Our General is Best.

Kim suffers from chronic illness and although he has boasted about his fitness, attention is focused on which of his three known sons may succeed him.

North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung was 62 when he tipped Kim Jong-il as his successor, giving his son decades to build trust with the country's powerful military.

Dongseo University professor Brian Myers, a specialist in North Korea's political ideology, said time may be running out for Kim to anoint a successor given the years it takes to build a cult of personality fit for a leader of North Korea.

"I am inclining to the view that Kim Jong-il is not all that concerned what is going to happen after his death," Myers said. "He might well believe that his children would be better off with a lot of money and no political baggage in a unified Korea under Seoul than they would be having the baton handed off to them and having them fight to defend it."

Kim has tested the patience of the world for years through nuclear arms brinkmanship.

Without nuclear arms, North Korea is just a poor country with failed economic policies that cannot produce enough food to feed its people, analysts said.

With them, it gets a seat at the table with powers including the US -- the nation it argues is trying to topple it and causes to maintain a military-first policy that strains its beleaguered economy to put 1.2 million troops in service.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test in October 2006, worrying US allies Japan and South Korea which could be targets for Pyongyang.

Under an agreement between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US, North Korea has committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs in exchange for diplomatic and economic incentives.

A key sticking point in the "six-party" process has been North Korea's failure to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to provide a complete declaration of its nuclear programs -- a step expected to lead to the removal of some US sanctions.

Outside of North Korea, Kim is seen as man with a bouffant hair-do, drab jumpsuit and platform shoes who has done little to help his starving people and has let the country's industry stagnate.

At home, North Korea's state propaganda has created a legend.

It tells tales of wonder about a man who has penned operas, produced movies and accomplished a feat unmatched in the annals of professional golf, shooting 11 holes-in-one during the first round he ever played.

North Korea's official media has said flowers come into bloom when he appears and rainbows fill the sky on his birthday. He is, it is said, a man who pilots jet fighters -- even though he travels by land for his infrequent trips abroad.

"The DPRK led by Kim Jong-il is a country with a rosy future as it is making a leaping advance towards a great prosperous powerful nation full of immense vigor and dynamism," KCNA said.

The North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper ran a lengthy editorial full of praise for Kim for making the communist nation an "undefeatable strong country" by strengthening its "political and military force."
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